Adding & auto scheduling your plan topics

Please note:

• When a topic is posted all participants will receive the topic notification if they have been invited to the discussion, whether they have Accepted the email invitation or not (assumes you have the option to allow topic notifications checked to be on).

Selecting a plan

1. From the discussion board tool Dashboard select the Board Name. The Manage tab will be displayed showing board details.
2. Select the Edit Board button. You can now make changes to the board elements as required.
3. Go to the Select Plan in the left column.
4. If you have created your plan, from the drop down list select the desired plan for your board. The plan will be added to the board.
5. Select the Save changes button and a confirmation message will be displayed. Please note: If there are no plans available you will need to create a plan by selecting the 'Create a plan' button.

How to change the visibility of a plan topic to be private or public

1. Go to the Select Plan area in the left hand column.
2. Select the label of the plan topics to change it from Public to Private as required.

Public topic - is one where every one can see each others comments and replies.

Private topic - is one which is a private conversation between and moderator and a participant - participants can not see other participants comments or replies.

How to scheduling a plan topic

Scheduling a plan topic will automatically post the topic to the board at the scheduled date and time.

1. From the discussion board tool Dashboard select the Board Name. The Manage tab will be displayed showing board details.
2. Select the Edit button. Your board will be displayed in Edit mode.
3. Choose the plan topic to be scheduled from the left hand column and select the Schedule button. The Set scheduled date window form will be displayed.
4. Select the date and time that the plan topic is to be posted to the board.
5. Select the Set date button. The scheduled date and time is displayed next to the plan topic name and the action displayed is now Edit.
6. Select the Save changes button and a confirmation message will be displayed

Please note: For a plan topic to be automatically scheduled to start, the Plan Mode needs to be set to Auto-Pilot.

There is a 5 minute buffer time between activation and email notifications. This is to allow for the aggregation of plan topics into one email notification - if a more than one topic is activated within a ten minute period. This process ensures that a participant only gets one topic email notification listing all plan topics posted to the board within a ten minute period.

Setting the plan mode

1. From the discussion board tool Dashboard select the Board Name. The Manage tab will be displayed showing board details.
2. Select the Edit button. Your board will be displayed in Edit mode.
3. Go to Plan Mode section.
4. Select drop down - make selection between Auto Pilot or Manual:
• Auto-Pilot - when the Plan Mode is set to Auto-Pilot, any plan topics that have a scheduled date and time, will be posted to the board automatically at the nominated date and time.
• Manual - when the Plan Mode is set to Manual, plan topic must be manually posted to the board by the Moderator from the work space area. Please note: you can still remove the scheduled date and time by selecting the plan item "Remove schedule" button prior to the assigned date a time.